Two days ago I went to hear a panel on Iran; what happened, what are we doing now, and what should we do in the future. I was a bit late but upon entering the room I noticed that most of the people in the room were 35 and up and therefore by no means a correct sample of the Iranian population in Iran (which has a median age of 27).

Then the initial disappointments started to pour in. I could recognize some of the socialist/communist faces but I never thought that the program would begin with speeches of solidarity given by representatives of socialist groups. The first person I think wasn’t representing any group, but Mr. PhD had wonderful things to say about the nice progressive regimes in Latin America. Yup, Hugo Chavez, Rafael Correa, Evo Morales, Kirchner and his wife, all those crazy bastards were portrayed as the heroes of the people. And our quest for democracy suddenly was framed as a “progressive” (read: socialist) people’s movement. The guy even praised Manuel Zelaya, the deposed president of Honduras who forcibly wanted to begin the process of changing the constitution. I haven’t read much about Honduras but apparently he didn’t even have the support of the people or even his own political party. Oh, and of course what kind of a “progressive” would our friend be if he didn’t lambaste the American government. Yup, we were told that the Honduras coup that happened yesterday was orchestrated and approved by the Americans. Of course there’s no proof of that but hey, it must be in America’s interest so America must be behind it, right? Goddamn idiots. I’m not saying the United States and Obama are saints. Obviously as a hegemon and as the leader of the capitalist world it has its own interests, but blaming everything that we don’t like on the United States without even a shred of evidence is getting old and tiring and is anything but constructive.

And now I hear both Obama and Sec. of State Clinton condemning the coup in Honduras. Of course words aren’t enough for the extreme left. Even hard evidence and #s wouldn’t be enough. And in another news, Argentina president suffered a major loss in yesterday’s Congressional election, losing the majority in both the upper and lower houses. His husband, former president Kirchner, even lost his bid for a Congressional seat. But oh wait, I thought the Kirchners embodied the “‘progressive’ peoples’ movement” that is sweeping Latin America and defending the victimized working class that represent the good of this world against the evil imperial United States?

The other thing that pissed me off was the insistence of some on removing the Iranian regime by force. A lot of people there, again all radical lefts, were asking how some could still argue for reform and peaceful demonstrations when the regime is committing such massacres? The only way is to fight back with guns similar to a population and terrain-based insurgency. During break one woman even accused one of the panelists – a friend of mine that still believes in reforms and peaceful demonstrations and is vehemently against a revolution – of being ignorant, repeating the phrase “shame on you.” I decided to meddle in and take some of the punches for him, and he quickly used this opportunity to start talking to someone else. These people got some nerves. She yelled at me “how can you remain peaceful and do nothing when they’re killing our brothers and sisters?” (and of course, “shame on you!”). Well, really it’s not that complicated. The demonstrators themselves are asking everyone to remain peaceful. They see and hear their brothers, sisters, daughters or sons being killed. They understandably react angrily to such bloody events but they come back the next day, their fingers up with the sign of peace, sometimes even protecting the anti-riot police against the rioters. THEY WANT TO REMAIN PEACEFUL, YET OUR BRAVE FRIENDS, SLEEPING COMFORTABLY 5000 MILES AWAY FROM THE CRISIS INSIST THAT WE NEED GUNS. Bravo, assholes, Bravo. Seriously, I’ve heard that most of the intellectuals during the 50s, 60s and 70s were leftists. The left that I see now doesn’t appear to be “intellectual” in any way. Dickishly reactionary is how I would describe them. The award for the leftist of the evening goes to these people.

Overall though, it wasn’t too bad of an event. For the first time I witnessed Iranians with opposing views sitting down in one room and except for 1 or 2 mild cases, discussing their points with one another rather than fighting each other. I’m hopeful that one day the culture of civil discourse will be hard wired onto the Iranian culture. And when that day comes, we can start enjoying a true democracy.